Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Suspected Gunman Elias Rodriguez Charged With Murder; U.N.: Aid Trickling Into Gaza Is "Nowhere Near Enough"; Trump Admin Bars Harvard From Enrolling Foreign Students; Young Couple Shot Dead Outside Jewish Museum in Washington; U.S. Envoys to Attend Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks; Verdict Expected Soon in Paris Trial of Accused Robbers; Flooding in Australia Leaves 50,000 People Isolated; YouTube Star Supporting Gaza Children Gets Praise and Criticism. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 23, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:32]
MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm MJ Lee, live in Washington. Ahead for us this hour, authorities are investigating possible online writings of the suspect in the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C.
Some bakeries are operating in Gaza again after aid truck -- trucks delivered flour, but one U.N. official calls it a drop in the ocean.
And how one woman is using her internet fame to highlight the challenges facing Gaza's child refugees.
Prosecutors have filed federal murder charges against the man accused of gunning down two staff members from the Israeli embassy in Washington. Investigators are piecing together now the events leading up to that attack.
According to court documents, Elias Rodriguez declared a fire -- firearm in his checked luggage when he flew from Chicago to Washington, where he apparently was attending a war conference. Police say he shot Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram after an event outside a Jewish museum on Wednesday. Surveillance footage reportedly shows the gunman walking past the young couple, then turning around and firing at them from behind. Documents describe Milgram trying to crawl away as Rodriguez followed her and fired again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANINE PIRRO, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY FOR WASHINGTON, D.C: Violence against anyone based on their religion is an act of cowardice. It is not an act of a hero.
It is the kind of case that we will vigorously pursue. Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation's capital. And we're going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism. And we will add additional charges as the evidence warrants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Meanwhile, the FBI is digging into the suspect's background and history of activism. CNN's Whitney Wild has those details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As FBI agents in tactical gear search an address linked to the man accused of shooting two people outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, the people who live in this busy Northside Chicago neighborhood are trying to make sense of the tragedy.
JOHN FRY, NEIGHBOR: It shocked me. I heard that the shooter was from Chicago, but have it be my next door neighbor.
WILD (voice-over): From Chicago to Washington, law enforcement has been working around the clock to learn as much as they can about the 31-year-old shooting suspect, Elias Rodriguez. Part of the investigation, according to law enforcement sources, a lengthy letter signed with Rodriguez's name and posted to social media Wednesday night. The letter advocated for violent retaliation over the war in Gaza, called Israel's actions in Gaza genocide, and expressed fury over the, quote, atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestine.
The letter referenced armed action as a valid form of protest, calling it the only sane thing to do. What more at this point can one say about the proportion of mangled and burned and exploded human beings whom were children, the letter said. We who let this happen will never deserve the Palestinians' forgiveness.
The shooting happened outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in D.C. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram, staff members at the Israeli embassy.
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The hate has got to stop and it has to stop now. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
WILD (voice-over): Israeli officials say Lischinsky and Milgram were dating. Lischinsky planned to propose soon.
BONDI: What we saw last night was disgusting. I saw a young man's body being taken away who was about to get engaged. He had an entire life in front of him and that was taken away.
WILD (voice-over): Eyewitnesses told CNN, Rodriguez first pretended to be a bystander after the shooting. When police arrived, Rodriguez turned himself in, shouting, free Palestine, a moment caught on video obtained by CNN. Free, free Palestine.
YONI RIVER KALIN, WITNESS: He said, I did this for Palestine. He started yelling free, free Palestine Intifada revolution. There's only one solution. WILD (voice-over): Rodriguez appears to have been an activist for years. This GoFundMe page set up in 2017 raised money for a trip to Washington, D.C. for an event with a group called the People's Congress of Resistance.
Rodriguez apparently writing that he wanted to put an end to imperialist war. He was also interviewed by "Scripps News" at a protest in 2018 over plans for an Amazon building.
[01:05:07]
ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, MEMBER, ANSWER CHICAGO: I feel like if we can keep Amazon out, that is a huge victory and it demonstrates sort of the power of people coming together and being able to say no to things like gentrification and -- and these corporate subsidies.
WILD (voice-over): In the aftermath of the shooting, Rodriguez's neighbor shared this message.
FRY: I learned during the Vietnam War, you don't stop war with guns and bombs. Stop wars by going to your neighbors, talking to your neighbors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILD (on camera): Elias Rodriguez is facing charges including murder of a foreign official. Law enforcement in D.C. says this is being investigated as a hate crime, being investigated as an act of terror. And the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, says that it is likely that there will be more charges added in the future.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
LEE: I spoke earlier with Brian Levin, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. And I asked for his reaction to the murders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN LEVIN, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF HATE & EXTREMISM: I think if the documentation that I'm seeing is accurate, that the person who did this was in a milieu of hostile and aggressive, bigoted content online, both as consuming and spreading it. So this is something that we have a homegrown person.
That being said, since 2018 through 2024, the most common type of fatal extremists in the United States, both in general and particularly with respect to anti-Jewish, were white supremacists, far right, and neo-Nazi. And when we disaggregated with folks from other universities, what we found was the worst months for anti-Jewish hate crime in the 1990s, March '94, corresponded to bloodshed in the Holy Land.
Similar, October 2000, that was the decade high. That was when the Intifada was taking place. And we've seen that time and time again, including the most recent Gaza conflicts.
Overall, anti-Jewish hate crime, a record in 2024, up 12 percent. Anti-Muslim, not in a record, but up 18 percent. And both had similar double-digit increases of around 50 percent the year prior, 2023.
LEE: OK, interesting. And Brian, White House press spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that the Trump administration has done more than any administration in -- in history to crack down on anti-Semitism. I wondered what you say to that.
LEVIN: I look at the fact that the federal government just cut yesterday. Hate crime training grants and projects for police also eliminated. The domestic terrorism training and projects for police. Two, two studies I were on was defunded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: A limited amount of food is trickling into Gaza for the first time since March 2nd. But U.N. officials say it is nowhere near enough to tackle the humanitarian crisis there and feed the hungry population. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports from Tel Aviv.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, more than 11 weeks after Israel began its total siege of the Gaza Strip, humanitarian aid has finally begun to reach Gaza's population once again. Last night, trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, including flour, baby food and nutritional supplements. They began to make their way through the Gaza Strip to distribution points.
Bakeries in Gaza were baking bread all night long and throughout the day to try and get bread to people who need it the most. This aid was distributed in central and in southern Gaza, but there are still major questions that loom over the new entry of this aid and whether or not it will be capable of stemming what is a true hunger crisis that is still roiling the Gaza Strip. That's because, first of all, it's not clear whether this aid is going to make it to northern Gaza yet, where there are hundreds of thousands of people who are in dire circumstances, particularly as the Israeli military escalates its offensive in northern Gaza and Israeli troops are beginning to advance in those areas and direct the population to evacuate.
Then, of course, there is the issue of how many trucks is Israel going to allow in and for how long. We have seen so far that Israel appears to be authorizing about 100 trucks of aid per day, which is still short of what humanitarian aid officials say is needed. Humanitarian aid officials say the aid that has entered so far still represents just a drop in the ocean of the need that exists in Gaza, but certainly this is at least a ray of hope for the people of Gaza, although it's clear that the hunger crisis has yet to be fully solved.
[01:10:17]
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
LEE: And UNICEF Global spokesperson James Elder joins us now from Geneva, Switzerland. James, thank you very much for your time. For the first time after 11 weeks of no aid getting into Gaza, we are now seeing, as we saw in Jeremy's piece there, the first influx of food. First of all, I want to ask you, is this enough?
JAMES ELDER, UNICEF GLOBAL SPOKESPERSON: Not even close, MJ. Not -- not by any sense of the imagination. And it's -- it's worrying. Look, we take any truck, any pallet, of course, given the level of deprivation. You know, we talk to mothers, as I do, who will explain they haven't eaten for days, they give their food to their children or a grandmother who buys a portion of a fruit.
No, we have got -- we have got conditions across the Gaza Strip that are as bad as we've ever seen when it comes to nutrition. This is tokenistic right now, and the very real fear is that it's drip, drip, drip to try and reduce pressure before this private military contractor comes in to -- to force people into areas to collect aid.
So -- so, no, every truck, every pallet is important, but we've got enough food for -- for a million people for four months, just the other side of the border. Incubators, medicines, water supplies, you name it. So this is a start, but it looks like a cynical start, MJ.
LEE: That last fact that you mentioned is really interesting because I was going to ask you, I mean, to your knowledge, is there enough humanitarian aid that is available that could go in? You know, in other words, is lack of supplies also a problem or is the biggest issue right now simply that those supplies are just not getting in there fast enough?
ELDER: Yes, the biggest issue is that there's been a blockade, that the -- the power with the legal responsibility to ensure people don't starve, to ensure children who've been bombed get the medicines they need, that is Israel, let them come in. Donors have been very generous in terms of ensuring the food, the water, the medicines, as I say, the incubators, you name it, for children, and that's what's on the other side of the border. That's what UNICEF has, that's what the World Food Programme, this is what, WHO, UNRWA has.
So, no, it's there, it's been there for a long time. It's quite unprecedented to see for 11 weeks a complete denial of everything a mother, a grandmother, a child needs, only to see bombs going in. So now, as we saw in the ceasefire, MJ, that ceasefire gave hope. It got hostages home, that abhorrence of -- of people being trapped there, you know, Israeli citizens being trapped there. It got them home, it let aid flow across the Gaza Strip, it let doctors operate on children who needed it, but it was 500 trucks a day, 500 a day. That was the capacity of the United Nations, that's what we were able to do with very brave partners on the ground.
We know how to do that. We'll do it again, but not this a dozen or two a day. It's, as I say, it's drip, drip, drip, the highest official, it's a drop in the ocean, but it's -- it's worryingly, it looks much more like optics and smoke and mirrors than really trying to support boys and girls and women in the Gaza Strip.
LEE: And James, the fact that there are millions of people in the Strip who have been just desperately hungry for so many weeks now, I wonder how concerned you are about things like looting and also just the safety of bakery workers who are now finally getting back to work.
ELDER: There's no doubt, MJ, the U.N.'s been very, very open around the challenges of looting. You know, you deprive a population for so long of everything and then allow the U.N. one route. You know, the Israeli officials could give us many options to -- to take aid in, one route, that will be a major challenge.
UNICEF, though, the other day, we got our 19 trucks in, bang, we got them in. It took 30 hours based on the -- the process and the militarization and the security screening, but we got them in. Again, in the ceasefire, when true humanitarian aid and commercial goods were allowed in, 500 trucks a day, there was no looting because people had what they needed.
So we know how to do this, but if we're not able to do it, we see those ghastly images that my colleagues are seeing. We see families watching children starve. Starvation is, well, in this case, it's completely man-made. It's completely avoidable. It's -- it's -- it's over, done over the -- the powerless. MJ, you know, a little -- a little baby is screaming because of the pain. Their body is eating its own -- its own fat and its own muscle. But then the child grows quiet. That's when they've given up.
Now this -- all the aid they need is a matter of miles across the border. It's too much. It's been too much. It's far too long. There's a level of depression, there's despondency across the Gaza Strip. People don't give up, but my goodness, they need voices to raise right now to ensure sustained humanitarian aid, a ceasefire, hostages home, all the things we've called for -- for 20 months now.
[01:15:07]
LEE: And James, food is, of course, just one of so many daily essentials that are lacking right now for Gazans. Walk us through some of the other kinds of supplies that Gazans are most in need of right now.
ELDER: It's simple things, MJ. It might just be, you know, hygiene packs for teenage -- for teenage girls. There's a lot of women giving preterm birth because of a lack of nutrition and the lack of stress. Those babies need incubators. It's very simple, amazing doctors UNICEF's got the incubators. They're not getting across into the -- into the Gaza Strip. It's medicines, of course, it's anesthetics, it can be tense for people.
The number of people I've met, MJ, who are in touch with me every day, who really ask for nothing. They just want news from the outside world. In the last week, there's hundreds of thousands of people again are being displaced who've gone home during the ceasefire, put up a tent over their rubble or tried to live in a, you know, in a -- in a building that had been damaged.
They're being moved again. They want a tent. They need a blanket. They need some new clothes. Every time you move, you -- you leave, you lose something. So, so many of the things people need are the things that, you know, you and I just have in our house and we take for granted. And they're denied. Baby formula, you know, these are the things that change your day, change your life. And they're all in trucks, and they're all on the wrong side of the border.
LEE: All right, James Elder in Geneva, thank you so much again.
ELDER: Thanks, MJ.
LEE: Russia and Ukraine are expected to swap up to a thousand prisoners of war on each side later today. The exchange was negotiated during the nation's first face-to-face talks in three years last week. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin says his military is working to create what he calls a security buffer zone along the border with Ukraine.
He spoke after visiting the Kursk region this week, where Ukraine launched a surprise incursion last year. Russia claims it has now pushed Ukrainians out, but Kyiv says it still has a foothold there.
President Trump is ramping up his fight with Harvard University, and when we return, why the school is calling the administration's latest move unlawful.
Plus, another round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran set to begin in the coming hours. Still ahead, we'll hear what people in Tehran think about a possible nuclear deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:21:57]
LEE: The Trump administration says Harvard University is no longer allowed to enroll foreign students. It comes as the school's officials refuse to give in to the administration's policy demands. As CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports, this move could impact more than a quarter of Harvard's student body.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration is dramatically escalating its fight with Harvard University, saying on Thursday that all international students will be banned from continuing their education at Harvard, saying all students must change their enrollment to another university or lose their legal status to be in the United States.
Now, the backstory to all of this, this comes as the fight with Harvard began earlier this year, initially the administration blocking some $2 billion or so in funding, federal funding, to Harvard programs. This comes as the administration is trying to get Harvard to change its curriculum. They say that the university has been dominated by DEI programs, anti-Semitic protests, and the like.
The White House in a statement saying this, Harvard has turned their once-great institution into a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators. The White House says enrolling foreign students is a privilege, not a right. Harvard University, of course, pushing back strongly on this, saying the government's action is unlawful. Harvard says the retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community, our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.
So the bottom line to this is the -- this -- will certainly end up in a legal proceeding added to the list of administration proposals that have been challenged by court. But this is a lot of students we are talking about here. Some 27 percent of Harvard's entire student body, about 6,700 students, would fall under this.
So, of course, this has a big fallout for those students already here in the U.S. as the school semester nears an end.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
LEE: And joining us now is Harvard president emeritus Larry Summers. He was also, of course, treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. Mr. Secretary, it is great to have you here. Grateful for your time.
After this news came out on Thursday, you wrote on X that the Trump administration's vendetta action against Harvard is now over the top, and that it's crazy to make enemies of thousands of the most talented young people from around the world. You're saying that there needs to be due process here, but what recourse does Harvard have at the moment?
LARRY SUMMERS, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: We've got three branches of government in the United States, and they're independent and coequal. The executive, that's the President, the legislative, that's the Congress, and the judicial. I cannot imagine that singling out one university as opposed to all other universities for sanction of this kind and attacking that university without due process, without an indication of what the problem is with a set of punishments and sanctions that are mostly going to fall on people whose fault this surely isn't.
[01:25:21]
People who dreamed of coming to the United States to study, to absorb American traditions, to advance science, and now are having their lives wrecked, their whole plans being taken asunder. I can't believe that that is legal, and I would hope that the university will take legal action, and that there'll be some kind of judicial action that sets this wrong right.
LEE: Well, let's talk about those people that you are referring to, you know, few people know Harvard better than you do. I want you to tell us about the international student body on campus and how they fit into the community, and is it even possible for you to imagine a Harvard University without its international students?
SUMMERS: I can't. Harvard hasn't been that way for literally hundreds of years. I know this. The United States won World War II in no small part because of what foreign scholars at American universities did, the Manhattan Project, Radar, so many other fundamental innovations. I know this. We wouldn't have met the pandemic in the way we did without all kinds of people from abroad who came to American universities and helped discover the vaccines. I know this. We wouldn't have the kind of prosperity that we have without people who came, were drawn to the United States by the opportunity to study at great universities like -- like Harvard, and went on to found great companies to get patents that were the basis for pervasive innovation.
LEE: So Secretary Summers, the school is in the position that it is in now because it has really stood up to the Trump administration in ways that, you know, many other elite institutions haven't. Have you agreed with the way that the school has been handling its clash with the administration?
SUMMERS: Look, I -- I believe there's a lot that needs to change at Harvard. There are issues about identity politics. There are issues about anti-Semitism. There are issues about not enough spectrum of views. I believe the right course for Harvard is resist and reform. Yes, reform.
But, you know, we now have a government that is trying to bring law firms that represent certain defendants it doesn't like to their knees, that is sending people out of the country, even American citizens, without any due process protections, that court after court after court has found to be in violation of the law regarding federal spending powers by cutting off what Congress has ordered. This is the beginnings. It's not all the way there.
It's all wrong to compare this to Hitler and say some of the overheated things that people say. But these are steps away from democracy and towards tyranny. And if an institution with all Harvard's resources and endowment of more than $50 billion, all its prestige, its incredible network of alumni, presidents, Nobel Prize winners, chief executive officers, great artists, if Harvard can't resist these steps towards tyranny, who can?
So I salute our current president, Alan Garber, for his courage and steadfastness. And I believe we are doing what is right, what is necessary, and is just immensely important to the American future.
LEE: Larry Summers, thank you so much for sharing your very unique perspective on this story with us.
SUMMERS: Thank you.
[01:29:56]
LEE: They were raised thousands of kilometers apart, but found love at an Israeli embassy. Ahead, the lives and unfulfilled dreams of the young couple murdered in Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm M.J. Lee.
Their paths led them to pursue careers in diplomacy, but they also found love at the Israeli embassy in Washington and they were planning on a future together. But a gunman fatally shot them outside a Jewish museum on Wednesday,
yelling "Free Palestine" as police detained him.
CNN's Tom Foreman reports on their love story that was tragically cut short.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AYELET RAZIN, SARAH MILGRIM'S FRIEND: I understand that they were supposed to come to Israel next week to announce their engagement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were going to get married in Jerusalem in the near future.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To those who knew them well, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were living a dream. She was in her mid- 20s, he was just a bit older, working together at the Israeli embassy in D.C. "like a poster for a Netflix rom-com", one associate said.
Now friends of the two vibrant young souls are grappling with what officials are alleging is one brutal reality.
RAZIN: They were murdered because they were Jews.
FOREMAN: Yaron was born in Germany to a Jewish father and a Christian mother. He served in the Israeli military, and friends say he was soft-spoken, studious, a kind man.
RONEN SHOVAL, YARON LISCHINSKY'S TEACHER AT ARMAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES: Yaron was a good friend. He was part of the community. We always say that God always take the good ones. He was one of the best one.
It makes me feel very sad. But what we're trying to do now is take his legacy and continue it in spreading good around the world.
FOREMAN: Sarah grew up around Kansas City and encountered sharp anti- Semitism in her youth when a white supremacist shot and killed three people at Jewish centers there in 2014, and when vandals spray-painted her high school with Nazi images.
SARAH MILGRIM, VICTIM OF FATAL SHOOTING: It's so ignorant that you would bring up a symbol like that that brings so much pain to a lot of people, and it's not ok.
FOREMAN: Sarah, a senior when it happened in 2017, told a local TV station --
MILGRIM: You know, I worry about going to my synagogue, and I have to worry about safety at school, and that shouldn't be a thing.
FOREMAN: At the University of Kansas, she rose to leadership in a Jewish student group, where staff members are now recalling her making that stand years ago.
ETHAN HELFAND, EXEC. DIRECTOR OF HILLEL AT UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS: It speaks to who she was as a person, that as a high schooler, when she saw things that were wrong, and when she saw her community being affected by anti-Semitism, that she spoke out.
FOREMAN: So many of the people mourning the loss of these two young people right now told us they're sad, not merely for who they were, but for whom they might have become.
Tom Foreman, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Iran's foreign minister is on his way to Rome, where he'll discuss a potential nuclear deal with the U.S. envoys in the coming hours. A source familiar with the matter tells CNN the talks are hitting crunch time as both parties approach a 60-day deadline for a deal that was set by President Trump back in March.
Iran says it will not relinquish its rights to nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment, despite warnings from the U.S. that Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
While Iran will attend, two Iranian sources tell CNN they are skeptical of the Trump administration's intentions.
So how do people in Iran feel about the nuclear talks with the U.S.? CNN's Fred Pleitgen looked for answers in Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here on the streets and markets in Tehran, of course, the negotiations between the Iranians and the Trump administration is the talk of the town.
Of course, those negotiations have been fairly difficult. The Iranians have threatened to walk away several times because of some of the things that members of President Trump's negotiating team have said, especially that the U.S. would not allow nuclear enrichment inside Iran by the Iranians.
The Iranians say for them, that is an absolute red line. They say they've worked hard for their civilian nuclear program, and they have a right to enrich nuclear fuel.
The Iranians are, however, saying if verification is necessary, they are willing to make compromises there.
Folks that we've been speaking to here on the streets of Tehran say they do hope that an agreement can be reached.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a situation. They're going to put Iran into a corner and there're going to be so much demand that Iran cannot give. And it's going to fail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Iran, the economic situation is not good for people, and we are in a depression (ph). And I hope -- I think most of the people, we hope that maybe it's possible. [01:39:53]
PLEITGEN: Do you think there's a chance of success still?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. Because our decision is clear that we should have our nuclear power, not for -- using it for, I don't know, weapons, for I don't know, killing people. We just need it for our power. I don't know, for our energy.
PLEITGEN: So, as you can see, a pretty complicated situation. What are the Israelis going to do? What's the Trump administration going to do? Can a compromise be reached?
Now, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and final authority on everything here in Iran, he says he's not confident that these negotiations can come to a successful conclusion. And he's urged specifically the American negotiators to try not to talk any nonsense.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LEE: A judge has denied a request to end deportation proceedings for Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born, lawful permanent resident of the U.S. Attorneys for the Palestinian activist argued that he was arrested illegally and without a warrant over two months ago.
The Trump administration is trying to deport Khalil, who is a Columbia University graduate, after he helped organize pro-Palestinian rallies on campus.
His attorneys tell CNN he got to hold his newborn baby for the first time on Thursday at the Louisiana detention center, where he is being held.
The verdict is expected within hours in the trial of the men accused of robbing Kim Kardashian in Paris nearly nine years ago. The reality TV star testified last week that she thought at the time that they were going to kill her.
Kardashian was robbed of nearly $10 million in cash and jewelry, including a $4 million engagement ring.
Of the 12 original suspects, dubbed "The Grandpa Robbers", one has since died and another was deemed unfit to stand trial due to Alzheimer's disease.
Kardashian says she forgives one of the men who wrote her a letter apologizing for the, quote, "emotional damage" he inflicted on her. If convicted, some defendants could face up to 30 years in prison.
Massive flooding in Australia has left thousands without power and trapped. Just ahead, how rescuers are trying to get to them.
And plus, scientists say they've discovered the surprising method clownfish use to survive climate change.
[01:42:14]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEE: Massive flooding in Australia has isolated around 50,000 people. Three days of nonstop rain has cut off entire towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes.
CNN's Lynda Kinkade has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rescue workers dropped from the sky in Australia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello? Anyone in there?
KINKADE: In some flood-drenched areas, it's the best or only way to reach stranded residents. After months of heavy rain fell across New South Wales --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't take anything with me.
KINKADE: -- in just a matter of days.
About 50,000 people have been told to prepare to evacuate or be isolated with rain still falling and dangerous winds expected over the weekend.
Rescuers in some neighborhoods are going house to house to evacuate people, but entire towns have been cut off and the floods are too fast-moving to reach some places yet.
JIHAD DIB, EMERGENCY SERVICE MINISTER, NEW SOUTH WALES: Some of those rescues we know about, some we discover as we move into particular streets where somebody had been waiting and had not made contact.
Be patient with us. You are a priority for us and we will get to you.
KINKADE: Officials say conditions could worsen as some rivers have yet to reach their peak. In Taree (ph), one of the hardest hit towns, one river has already surpassed six meters, the highest level since 1929.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may be able to see the bridge just through those trees there, it's almost touching the bottom of the bridge.
This is -- this is next door. You can see -- you can see Kim there. She's waving. Yes. So look there.
This is the back. This is the back. It's just all a river surrounding us right now. It's just surrounding us, 360 degrees.
KINKADE: About 2,500 emergency workers have been deployed to the flood zones. But until the rain stops and the waters recede, officials warned the worst is not over yet.
DAVID WADDELL, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE: Please do not enter these floodwaters. It is a really dangerous one-in-a- lifetime event. KINKADE: Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: So if you know what a clownfish looks like, good chance it's because of this little guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake up, wake up. Come on. Big day at school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to go to school. Five more minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not you, Dad. Me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up, get up. Time for school. Time for school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: We're now learning more about Nemo and his species. Researchers say they've discovered how clownfish are coping with climate change. They can shrink to survive in higher sea temperatures.
Scientists monitored 134 clownfish over five months, and the fish got shorter as water temperatures rose.
[01:49:44]
LEE: One researcher says the findings were a surprise and show that clownfish have a great capacity to respond to environmental stress.
And still to come, why a children's educator and YouTube star is facing backlash for supporting child refugees from Gaza.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEE: With her cheerful disposition and educational sing-alongs, a YouTube star known as Miss Rachel is beloved by toddlers and parents alike. But now she finds herself in the middle of a firestorm over her support for the children of Gaza and for amplifying the humanitarian crisis that they are facing.
CNN's Meena Duerson has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RACHEL ACCURSO, "MS. RACHEL", YOUTUBE STAR: Let's go back to sleep, Rahaf. We're so tired.
MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Miss Rachel hanging out with her new friend, Rahaf.
Miss Rachel is like YouTube's Mr. Rogers, with millions of subscribers and billions of views. ACCURSO: Can you nod yes?
DUERSON: And Rahaf is a three-year-old double amputee from Gaza. She lost her legs when her home was bombed and months later was medically- evacuated to the U.S.
RAHAF'S MOTHER (through translated text): We are heading to the U.S. to continue our treatment.
DUERSON: Miss Rachel saw a video of the little girl now living with her mom and a host family in Missouri watching her show.
ACCURSO: She's just so precious. Hopping like a bunny. And, you know, she was kind of hopping on the couch.
DUERSON: And arranged to have Rahaf come visit her in New York. Rahaf is part of a new group of fans Miss Rachel discovered last year, refugees of the war in Gaza.
ACCURSO: I was tagged in a video of a toddler and a brother and a sister watching in a tent. And I saw the toddler swaying and the little girl smile.
And I was just so touched that I could bring a little bit of joy to them during unimaginable circumstances.
DUERSON: Did you know that you had this audience?
ACCURSO: No. I was completely surprised.
Someone wrote, "This made me realize that these kids are like mine and like ours." And I know so many parents that enjoy our show feel the same way. They say, as a mom, I just think about, I see my babies.
ACCURSO: All children are worthy --
DUERSON: She's posted more and more about Gaza as the war has gone on, highlighting the humanitarian crisis and launching a fundraiser for kids. She's gotten supportive comments, but there's also been backlash.
ACCURSO: The bullying is so bad. It's so bad. But I can handle this.
DUERSON: You seemed very emotional about the bullying that you said you'd gotten for speaking out.
ACCURSO: The idea that caring for one group of children means that you don't care for another group of children is false. And it's so hurtful because I care so deeply for all kids.
DUERSON: In April, an advocacy group called Stop Anti-Semitism called her a mouthpiece for Hamas.
DUERSON: A group accused you of essentially acting as a foreign agent and asked, you know, for the attorney general to investigate you for spreading propaganda. ACCURSO: Obviously, that's not true. I care deeply about all children -- Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim, Christian. I wouldn't be Miss Rachel if I didn't speak up for them and speak up for all of them.
This is a prayer for all the children please stop hurting them.
DUERSON: Miss Rachel has also used her platform to express grief over the deaths of Israeli children. And said she's met with the family of hostages still in captivity.
[01:54:48]
DUERSON: Here in the U.S., Rahaf was fit for prosthetics and has learned how to walk again. A group called Palestine Children's Relief Fund helped her and her mom get out. But her dad and two brothers are still in Gaza.
RAHAF'S MOTHER (through translated text): Rahaf is very lucky of course because Rahaf was able to leave but there are other children still in Gaza. I wish those kids would get out and get treatment like Rahaf.
And many children are still under the rubble. I see how it affects my children. How they just talk to Rahaf and they see her holding bread and eating. They ask about it. Of course, this hurts me so much.
ACCURSO: Anything is possible for Rahaf. She has healthy food, and she has clean water, and she has wonderful medical care. This girl is thriving.
We have to do this for all kids because they all deserve that.
DUERSON: Meena Duerson, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: The Cannes Film Festival attracts thousands of fans every year, but few of them are like Nicole Lopez. The 80-year-old has been attending the festival since 1995.
She queues up for up to eight hours a day, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars and to get them to sign her autograph book. Over the years, she's met stars like Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington.
Lopez says that meeting actors is a dream come true for her.
NICOLE LOPEZ, CANNES FILM FESTIVAL FAN: Listen to me. For more than 30 years, I've always loved the cinema, the actors, and above all because I need to dream. There we go. It allows me to dream, to escape everyday life, which is more and more difficult for everyone. Let's say -- there you go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: It was maybe only a matter of time. China has unveiled a pair of boxing robots. They faced off in action at a demonstration at a school ahead of the world's first robot boxing tournament this weekend. They can throw punches, do sidekicks and even get up after falling over.
Unitree Robotics, which is the company behind it, says human controllers make the robots move, but two new control modes will be revealed on Sunday.
Thank you for watching. I'm M.J. Lee.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brian Abel after a quick break.
[01:57:02]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
